The battle for legitimacy in the Saudi-Iranian proxy war of words; plus, the deadly trade of journalism in Mexico.

From this Episode

Often news stories go beyond what meets the eye. There are certain events that, when you examine the media coverage of them, reveal much about the larger story.

The disaster that struck the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca is an example of that - reflected through the lenses of Saudi and Iranian media in particular.

On September 24, two throngs of pilgrims met at an intersection in an area called Mina near Mecca. What happened next is unclear, as is the death toll, but we do know that hundreds of people lost their lives.

Journalists say that they were denied access to the scene for seven hours - which does not help with newsgathering. And although Saudi Arabia offered an official death toll of 769, some speculate that that was an exercise of damage control in this public relations disaster - and that the figure is much higher.

The larger story is the geopolitics of the region. The news reports coming out of Saudi Arabia and Iran on the Hajj crush moved swiftly from sympathy to recrimination and started to look like a proxy war of words.

Journalism in Mexico is under attack. Ruben Espinosa, shot dead on August 1, is the latest in a long line of journalists killed, assaulted or threatened while working in the country.

But it is not just the coverage of violence or drug cartels that seems to get journalists into trouble. TheListening Post's Will Young explores the no go areas in Mexico and finds out why there are so many red lines for those trying to report on those stories.